Sellersville Sharkbites
October 2016
A Note from Mrs. Baker….
Dear Parent(s) and Guardian(s),
Welcome back to the new school year! There are so many wonderful activities and events planned for your child (ren) this year and we are ready to get started!
Please join us for the PTU meetings on the 2nd Monday of the month. The meetings start at 7:00 PM and are completed by 8:00PM. FREE babysitting is available in the cafeteria for students who are potty trained and older! This is a great way to learn about the school and what is happening! Please consider helping with the PTU, there is a volunteer opportunity for everyone!
We will continue with our SHARK program this year. The SHARK represents Self-responsible, Honest, Always Positive, Respectful and Kind. Students in grades 1-5 wear their break away lanyards to earn signatures when caught doing a SHARK behavior. Students can then turn in the filled cards for prizes in the Shark Tank. Kindergarten is working as a team to earn sharks in their classrooms. Ask your child for more details.
I look forward to a successful school year! Please contact me if there is anything I can do to assist you as we work together to promote students success.
Happy Fall!!!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Baker
Principal
Welcome Back!!
Congratulations to our Retirees
Mrs. Schroy – 3rd grade
Mrs. Hill – 1st Grade
Mrs. Moister – PCA
Ms. Cannon – school psychologist
Where are they now?
Mrs. Meiners – 3rd grade at Bedminster
Mr. Strawser – Relocated to Texas
Mrs. Bell – Title 1 at West Rock Hill
Welcome To Sellersville!
Ms. Scocchi – am kindergarten
Mrs. Pratt – DVK from Grasse to Sellersville
Ms. Potuck – 1st grade teacher
Mrs. Seachrist - new Title 1 Teacher for K-3
Mrs. Mascione – new Building Reading Specialist
Miss Thomas – new Title 1 Math Aide
Mrs. Bishop – moved from 2nd grade to 4th grade
Mr. Malatesta – moved from 4th grade to 2nd grade
Mr. Gorman – Moved from 5th grade to 3rd grade
Mrs. Masters - TA in the DVK Room
Mrs. Boulanger - PCA
Mrs. Giordano - PCA
Mr. Barlieb - new school psychologist
Mr. Weaver – new Night time custodian from HS and Admin
Please help us in welcoming everyone new in Sellersville!!
From the Nurse...
Welcome back to a Healthy New School Year!! Send your child to school feeling well and ready to learn. Make sure they get a good night’s rest, at least 8 hours. Provide them with a nourishing breakfast. Have them take care of their personal needs and hygiene before they leave the home. Give them a great start to their school day, every day. Let’s have a Healthy New Year school year!
¬ Parents of Kindergarteners and Original Entries- At registration, you should have provided a state mandated dental form, a physical form, and certain immunizations. If you have not already done so, please send these documents to the nurse’s office by September 30th.
¬ Parents of 3rd Grade Students - The state mandates that all 3rd grade students have a dental exam on file in the school health office. Many of you have already completed this. If you have not already done so, please submit a completed dental form to the nurse’s office.
¬ Lice: Please check your students for signs of head lice as a regular part of their daily hygiene. Lice are easily transmitted from one person to another. If you discover lice, obtain a lice shampoo and follow all directions. As per the Pennridge School District nit free policy, a student may not return to school until they are nit free.
Please read the attached letters:
Attn: Parent/Guardian: Don't Wait. Vaccinate.
https://drive.google.com/a/pennridge.us/file/d/0B2aP1IGOfXNEMHJaN0VKSXdZYXM/view?usp=sharing
Are you too sick for school?
https://drive.google.com/a/pennridge.us/file/d/0B2aP1IGOfXNETFRtbk5KX2M3SGM/view?usp=sharing
Pennsylvania Department of Health School Document:
https://drive.google.com/a/pennridge.us/file/d/0B2aP1IGOfXNESTVHbS1maHE5OGc/view?usp=sharing
Pennridge Parent Visitation Days
October 4th from 9:30 to 10:30 am (Grades 1-5)***
October 5th from 10:25 to 11:25 am (AM Kindergarten)
October 5th from 2:00 to 3:00 pm (PM Kindergarten)
October 5th from 2:15 to 3:10 pm (Mrs. Pratt's Kindergarten)
October 6th from 1:30 to 2:30 pm (Grades 1-5)
***Please note: Mrs. Puliti's class will have swimming on Thursday, October 6th during visitation. Visitation to Mrs. Puliti's class is only available on Tuesday, October 4th due to the above mentioned swimming class.
Visiting your child’s classroom presents a wonderful opportunity to be directly involved in the educational process through direct observation and interaction within the instructional setting. In an effort to make this experience a safe and enriching one for you and your child, we are initiating specific guidelines to be followed during your visit:
- Please check in at the designated sign-in area to obtain RAPTOR identification badge.
- If you plan to attend, we highly recommend that you come prior to the date to have your ID scanned if you haven't done so already. This will eliminate the need for you to wait in line to scan your ID.
- Please do not bring food or drinks into the classroom, in respect for students with food allergies.
- Please do not bring younger siblings to the visitation, as it is a distraction to the instructional process.
- Please be a quiet (i.e. refrain from unnecessary conversation and turn off/set-on vibrate any communication devices).
- Please do not take pictures or videos of the students as it violates student confidentiality.
PTU AGA Fall Festival
Our private AGA Fall Festival event is October 7, 2016. AGA will be collecting your money at the entrance this year. Please bring exact change with you for the entrance fee. The first hayride will begin promptly at 6pm. Please give yourself plenty of time to get to the farm as it’s located 15-20 minutes from school. Hope to see you there!
Contact carrie.najarian@gmail.com if you have any questions. See the attached flyer for all of the details:
https://drive.google.com/a/pennridge.us/file/d/0B2aP1IGOfXNEaXJScHFTV1RmcEk/view?usp=sharing
Reading Connections October 2016
Please read the attached Reading Connections for October:
FALL FESTIVAL PARADE
The annual Sellersville Fall Festival Parade will be held on Friday, October 28, 2016 at
1:45 pm in the school parking lot. Please note that there is no parking on school grounds for this event as we parade in the parking lot. Look for more information in a Blackboard Connect email.
BOOK FAIR - SAVE THE DATE!!
Fall Book Fair will be held in the Library Tuesday, November 15 to Monday, November 21. Classes will be able to shop during their Library time. Families will be invited to shop after school on Thursday, November 17. Online Book Fair orders will be accepted. More details will be sent home at a later date.
November Parent/Teacher Conferences
Even though parent/teacher conferences are scheduled for all students in November after the end of the first marking period, you may contact your child’s teacher at any time regarding questions or concerns. Your call will be returned/email will be responded to as soon as possible. Know that teachers are engaged in curriculum planning, meetings, and building and district responsibilities before and after school hours, and therefore may not be available for unannounced visits. For this reason it is best to contact the teacher via note, phone or email to set up a meeting at a mutually convenient time.
2016-2017 PSSA Dates
April 3-7, 2017 English Language Arts (Grades 3-5)
April 24-28, 2017 Mathematics (Grades 3-5)
May 1-5, 2017 Science (Grade 4)
Sellersville Website
Our Sellersville website is a source of information. You can find links to the school district, transportation, nutritional services, and more. Click on the tabs at the top and you can find a staff list, PTU information and the Sellersville calendar. You can also find outside flyers on the right-hand side of the page! Click on https://sites.google.com/a/pennridge.us/sellersville/ to see what you've been missing!!!!
School Lunch Menus
https://sites.google.com/a/pennridge.us/nutritional-services/lunch-menus
SCHOOL HOURS
Grades 1-5
- 8:15 Doors Open
- 8:35 Attendance is taken, School begins
- 3:10 School Dismissal begins
KDG AM
· 8:35 am Doors open, Students report to classrooms
- 8:45 am Morning KDG begins
· 11:25 am Morning KDG Dismissal begins
KDG PM
· 12:10 pm Doors Open, Students report to classrooms
· 12:20 pm Afternoon KDG Starts
· 3:00 pm Afternoon KDG Dismissal begins
The school will not be accessible to students before 8:15 AM unless they attend the KidsCare child care program.
Attendance Procedures
215-257-1336
Please leave the child's name, the parent/guardian's name, and the reason for absence(sick, family trip, funeral, etc.). Your telephone call will also eliminate the need for you to send an absence note in with your child on the morning of their return. If you child is out out multiple days, please call the attendance office each morning of the absence.
Leaving Early?
If you need to take your child out of school for an appointment, we ask that you send a note to the teacher so that they know to have the student ready for an early dismissal. Please note that all students will be called from their room after the person who is picking them up arrives.
Dismissal at the end of the School Day
One of the most important things we do each day is make sure that students are getting home the correct way. We are receiving more and more requests at the end of the school day. Please understand that these last minute changes create a challenge to communicate to the teacher and the student. We appreciate that emergency changes happen. I know you will all appreciate that getting 500 children in the correct place has a lot of details to it. We would like to ask that you communicate any changes in your child’s transportation in the morning, except in cases of emergency. You can call the office or email the teacher,
Mrs. Wagenmann (dwagenma@pennridge.org) and Mrs. Fitti (jfitti@pennridge.org).
This will help us to make sure that we are in a good position to get all students where they are supposed to be for dismissal.
Online Emergency Card
If you have not updated your emergency information online at this time, it is imperative that you do this as soon as possible. Even if there are NO changes, it is important to confirm the information as it is listed and give your permission for Tylenol/antacid, as this information is deleted each summer. Thank you for your assistance in helping us to update this important information. If there are any changes during the course of the school year, be sure to log in to PowerSchool and update as needed.
CLEARANCES
All adults who plan on volunteering in the Pennridge School District are required to have the following clearances on file with the district.
*** Child Abuse, Criminal Background Check, TB Test and fingerprint clearances
**** Please note that the state has made the Child Abuse and the Criminal Background check clearances free for all volunteers.
There is a link to the clearances on the Pennridge and Sellersville websites.
Educational Trip Forms
Remember to complete an educational trip from if you are taking a trip during the school year. Forms are to be completed two weeks prior to the trip. Forms can be found on our website or in the school office lobby.
RAPTOR
The safety of our students is always a top priority for the Pennridge School District. The Pennridge School District Board of Education voted in January 2016 to implement the Raptor Security System for the school buildings.
As you may be aware, Raptor provides an effective way to help schools keep unwanted visitors out while keeping track of those admitted into the buildings. Raptor allows us to:
- Electronically sign in and sign out visitors
- Print visitor badges
- Screen all visitors against the national sex offender database
- Provide real-time offender alerts
Please know that confidentiality is very important to us and the only information maintained in the database when you visit is the visitor name, date of birth and photo.
Custody Agreements and Other Court Documents
All parents/ guardians must submit a copy of custodial arrangements if you are the primary custodial parent. Of course the school will comply with any and all court orders, but in order to do so we must have a copy of the court order on file to ensure that our school is in complete compliance. In the absence of court documents stating otherwise, we must assume that both parents have equal access to students and to student information.
BIRTHDAY TREATS
Birthday treats are a fun part of elementary school and we look forward to celebrating with your child. Please note that we only do treats at lunchtime. We ask that all treats be single serving items that students can distribute to their classmates on their own! Thanks in advance for your support.